The Scorpio Races - rewrite Rain
by Shekinah Raven
Summary: The start of November, every year: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to hold their water horses long enough to make the finish line. Some finish and live. Others..die. Returning champ Sean, 19 and of few words with deep buried fears where no one can see. Rain is different, entering for the first time as a girl, the first girl to run in the races. No one is prepared for the outcome.


Hi, umm...don't know how to introduce this story *nervous laugh* I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer;

I do not own any characters featured except my OC Rain

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The Scorpio Races

-Rain

Its nearly November, and that means the water horses will soon be coming onto the beaches and into peoples yards if they live near the shore. But with the coming of the water horses is the scorpio races and that means many people will die within this month.

"The month of blood" is what my mother used to call it, she wasn't in favor of the races but its who we are here in Thisby. My mother had never liked my dad racing water horses let alone having them housed on our farm and letting me near them, but when my dad started putting me on water horses and saying that someday I could race a water horse and win my mother screamed at him and said she would never allow it. Well my dad said he was joking and didn't quite stop putting me on the horses just not as often. Then 2 years later, a water horse had barrled through town and caught my mom out in the street we got word not long after the attack, my mother was dead and my father told me to stay inside the house no matter what. I did and have been doing what he's told me since then, its been nearly 14 years to the day and I've raced in more races than I can remember starting the year after her death.

I don't talk to many people in town and they do they same, well besides the butcher and his wife who are in charge of the sign ups for the races. I never won a race before but I've always been in second right on firsts tail but never passing as I could of, dad says to never win so I don't. I just let my horse run and when we get up front I hold her in check keeping just behind first. We have 3 _capaill uisce_ in our barn, well second barn and 4 island horses in the other. The island horses of which I have no favorite include Jess: dun mare, Willy: grey gelding, March: chestnut mare, and Lis: old palimino mare. But the _capaill uisce_ include Sheiza a beautiful strawberry roan mare with wild spirit and an amazing ride and Nirne a blue grey dappled stallion with a temper of a ocean storm but still a fun ride, and then there's my favorite Devora a sun golden mare with an amazing temperment and who rides like the wind its self.

In all of the races I've been in there was only ever one real contender in speed to Devora, and that was Sean Kendrick's red stallion Corr, though Sheiza and Nirne are fast and do good in the races they never do better than anyothers who get pulled to the sea. I have asked my father several times why not just let Devora run and take the win, but he always says that his reasons are what keeps that horse in our hands and not the dam greedy ones of Benjamin Malvern and his idiot son Mutt whom I've broke the nose of twice cuz he ether wouldn't shut his trap or he just was sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. My father knows Sean but talks little with him, he was friends with his father. I've met Sean and talked with him, he's ok but close to the sea like me and I guess that's why he feels familiar to me.

The funny thing is that most people think I'm a boy and that my sister died when I was not born yet, but no my mother had just stopped taking me into town with her and so I spent more and more time in the barns. Now I look like a boy when I stuff my short hair under a hat, but with the seldom occasion that I bath and stay clean with my hair down you can definatly see that I am indead a girl. I think the only other people besides my dad and Sean that know I'm a girl is the butcher and his wife, though I think their son has his doubts on me being a boy dispite everything.

\- It was well past sunset when we heard the first bells from town the first water horse was spotted coming from the sea. Father had woke me to go tend to our horses but there was nothing to tend to for the _capaill uisce_ were just standing in their stalls looking out the barred windows to the sea mear leages a 10 foot jump and about another 30 foot drop from the sea. Well Sheiza and Nirne stood perfectly still but Devora didn't, she was passing back and forth in her stall. I walked to her stall and called her name making my voice hush and whisper like the sea did, Devora snapped around to face me and lowered her head as I looked her in the eye she finally put her head all the way down submiting to the fact of ignoring or at least not acting apon the calls from the sea. But that was one thing the other was the fact that tomorrow I would have to go into town and deal with all of the damed tourists that flocked to the island for the races. Father also told me that a boy was coming to be in the races, he was a thurobred jockey but also from a family of thrill seekers. What's more thrilling than racing in the scorpio races, sure it fast and the horses look amazing but umm did anyone stop to tell them that everytime we get on one of the water horses that we are quite literally risking our lives. Many people would argue that you risk your life getting on any horse, but what they don't understand is that these are not ordinary horses these are water horses _capaill uisce_ they eat meat, their teeth are like razors and they will kill their rider, handler or anyone for that matter and not think twice about it. But that didn't matter right now as I wrapped myself in the blankets trying, begging for sleep to come. If I woke up and was still super tired then I would be very likely to feed some idiot tourist to Devora or even Sheiza and Nirne. But I'd think about that tomorrow.

My alarm went off at its usual time, calling me from sleep to go feed the horses. The _capaill uisce_ were fed first for if they weren't then there would be problems like the loss of a hand. So, much to my rather lack of sleep I forced myself from my bed and quickly dressed. I was pulling my hair up on the way down the hall when I noticed there was a slip of paper on the door, not to mention the absence of my father. Curiousity drove me forward and I walked to the back door, reading the note while putting my jacket on I found out that said father had left early to go pick up more grain and feed for the _capaill uisce_ plus the little matter of the boy from the mainland. I sighed knowing how well that might go over and chuckled at the thought of that boy trying to even pet on of the water horses "ha that would be interesting that's for sure" I said to myself. As I opened the door I had to use my foot to shoe away our cat whom always wants to go out yet it's too dandgerous for her to, so she stays inside.

After closing the door quickly I wraped my arms around myself against the early morning chill and made for the barn. Inside I was delighted to find that Nirne hadn't tried to bust his door down again lick he did last year with the coming of October. 'I swear sometimes that horse is more than a handful sometimes' I thought dryly. Walking to the iron grate that separated the rest of the barn from the containers of meat I watched Sheiza and Nirne pase the front of their stalls eager for a meal, while Devora eyed my through the bars on her door. Sometimes she makes me worry about her behavior. But I pushed the thought away as I stepped through the grate and pulled a bucket out and placed an iron chainmail glove on my left hand. Walking to Nirne's stall I lowered my voice and shhh'ed at him mimicing the sound of the waves. Nirne lowered his head as I got to the door, I slipped my left hand inside and grabbed a hold of his nose tightly mumbling a soft apology for grabbing him as I backed him up so I could get in. I never once let go of his nose as I walked over to his feed bin and dumped the bucket of meat and blood in then as I backed up to the door. Only one I was out and only my hand inside did I release his nose and shut his door. Nirne didn't bother with me as he turned and went to his food. Most would find their diet rather digusting, but I've seen it since I was little so it doesn't really bother me. I repeated the process with Sheiza though she had other ideas as usual and tried to shake her head to get me to let go, but like I'd do that. I know better than to let Sheiza have her head when it comes to meat, even Devora can be touchy at times. But once done with Sheiza I moved to Devora's stall. She stood at the far end of her stall and eyed me as I entered. I kept my left hand out and open between me and her. It served two purposes, one to keep her from me and two to keep her from the door. Once her food was in the bin I backed toward the door, and as I backed up Devora slowly made her way to the bin to eat. I qiuckly made one last check of the barn before heading to feed our ponies in the other barn, as well as put hay in the pasture and likely clean some of the stalls before dad gets home. As I'm going about my barn chores I still can't wrap my head around how my dad got this mainland boy to come to us for the scorpio races, and why this kid didn't go to Malvern. Groaning as I finished the last stall and put the pitchfork away 'this whole situation is odd' I began to wheel the wheelbarrol down the hill to the dump pill when I noiced my dad's beat up truck pull into the driveway the grain and meat buckets crashing against eachother's metal sides. I made a face at the truck as it turned and pulled up infront of the house out of view, the tailgate was still in view near the fence gate that would lead them into the back to bring the feed to their respective barns.

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Well...that was fun to write. I hope you enjoyed it :) will be updating as soon as possible, hopefully in a week but a month at most. I apologize now in advance if the update comes in later that a week.

Well bye for now, have a lovely day ;)


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